PM calls meeting of senior colleagues on Telangana issue

With Telangana issue taking a major political turn, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today called a meeting with his senior ministerial colleagues to discuss it.

The meeting was called hours after Rajya Sabha saw an uproar over the deteriorating condition of Telengana Rashtra Samiti leader K Chandrashekar Rao who is on an indefinite fast over the demand for separate Telengana state.

Creating ruckus in the House and forcing its adjournment, BJP members questioned the government's sensitivity to the issue and warned that if anything untoward happened to Rao, the Congress will be to blame.

Earlier in the day, Singh discussed the issue with a few Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi also asked senior party leaders from Telangana region of the state to be patient on the separate statehood demand as she is seized of the matter.

She made the remarks to a group of MPs from the state who called on her to greet on her 64th birthday here.

Gandhi discussed the issue with senior party colleagues including Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram and Veerappa Moily on Monday.